Regaining movement through music and dance

I’m relearning to do movements I haven’t been able to do for over a decade. And I’m stunned at how much dance is helping me.

I shouldn’t be so surprised. After all, over 40 years ago I did a course in music therapy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as part of my music degree from The City University. At that time, I wanted to be a music therapist, but I never achieved the required level of musicianship in a suitable instrument.

Perhaps even more importantly, my sister has just retired from a lifetime of professional dancing and dance teaching.

I’d like to tell you my current experience and then share what I’ve learned about how music can help you to regain lost mobility.

For those of you who don’t know, ten years ago I could barely walk. I couldn’t lift my left leg at all because the necessary tissues/sinews at the top of my left thigh had shrivelled to nothing and simply didn’t work. The only way I could walk was to use my arms to throw my left leg forward. Over the following year, my mobility significantly improved though diet and nutrition (Youngevity). In the last few months, I’ve been using stem cell activation patches, and the necessary tissues/sinews have reappeared and started working again.

My left hip still has problems, but the left leg can move in amazing new ways. I’ve always wanted to be able to dance, so I’ve been following ballroom rhythm dance videos on Youtube.

At times, I’ve watched the instructor and thought to myself, “There’s no way I can do that.” Then I’ve tried and found, lo and behold, I could do it. BUT, I’ve only been able to do it when I’ve been ‘locked in’ mentally to the music and visually to the instructor’s movements. The following video is a good example.

When I saw the instructor kicking to the side then lifting the knee, I thought, “No way!” I tried it. It took a few minutes, but eventually I found I could ‘lock in’ and do it. I couldn’t believe it.

Then the music stopped. I tried to do it again and couldn’t. I kept losing my balance and I couldn’t get the rhythm going. What was happening? I’d done it perfectly a few minutes before. Then I started the music again in my head, and the action came back easily.

I wanted to understand what was happening to me, so I started researching online.

The video How music can heal the brain (see below) explains how the auditory-motor circuits in the brain process rhythmic sounds such as speech or music. They also, however, stimulate rhythmic movements like walking.

Since these neural pathways deal with both sound and movement, if you excite the neurons with music, you can make them more ready to activate movements.

That explains everything. It’s easier for my body to re-learn lost movements, when I move to music.

In the wonderful video Gait training for Parkinson’s patient using music (see below), the patient struggles to move his feet to walk, even with the help of a walker. Then he hears music and ‘locks into it’ (like me). He can then walk much faster and more rhythmically. Soon, he leaves the walker behind and dances with the nurse.

I’m experiencing something similar (though less dramatic). Who knows what movements I’m going to be able to relearn through dancing?

So, if you have mobility issues, I highly recommend that you include moving to music as part of your recovery protocol.